Games classification is screwed up

Essential linkage: The next meeting of Attorney Generals of Australia is just around the corner, and gaming is on the agenda...

You know what we hate? Our Content Management System - it ate the first draft of this article and I've had to write it again. I am quite literally grinding my teeth in rage.

However, I hate our country's lack of a proper and mature attitude to games classification even more, and I really am not alone. Gamers across the country have joined in many online petitions and campaigns, and journos like myself have been more than vocal in coming out in favour of an R18 classification being introduced.

Another great writer has just posted an excellent article over at the ABC's new technology and gaming site. Nick Ross - who, incidentally, used to edit our sister publication PC Authority - is a gamer and a dad, so he's got a unique angle on the currently fucked up nature of game classification in Australia. His piece is worth reading in full, but here's a taste:

Let's finish off by reiterating and underscoring the facts of this whole sorry mess: there is no flood of ultraviolent games on its way to Australia. They're already here - quite legally. Only three violent games have haven't made it to these shores in five years, and two of those are, in many ways, less violent than those already on the market. The direct result of not having an R18+ rating is that kids in Australia are playing ultraviolent games right now.

Read the whole article here.

And raise up your prayers to the gaming gods that next month, when the Attorney Generals all meet up over port and cigars, that they give full and proper consideration to the overwhelming majority who want an R18 rating introduced. 

Hey! Have you got an opinion on your favourite game of the last 12 months? Then let us know, and vote now in Atomic's inaugural Game of the Year poll - you might win stuff!